Stories from the Vault: Discovering the Archives at Mason Library

THE ISSUE OF MARCH OF TIME YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE HAS CAUSED MUCH CONTROVERSY. OUR POLICY IS TO FEARLESSLY PRESENT ANY WORTHY FILM RELEASED BY A RECOGNIZED AMERICAN PRODUCER. WE THEREFORE PRESENT UNCENSORED AND IMPARTIALLY THE FOLLOWING SUBJECT. 

This warning flashed on the screen of the Embassy Theatre in New York City, the evening of January 20, 1938.

What caused this warning at the theater was a film “Inside Nazi Germany” from the newsreel series The March of Time, produced by Louis de Rochemont, an academy award-winning filmmaker from Newington, New Hampshire.

Much of the footage of inside Nazi Germany was filmed by hand-held, silent cameras, and smuggled out of the country in a wooden box.

The wooden box is part of the Louis de Rochemont Archive, which is housed in the Keene State College Archives.

The March of Time appeared in theaters in the United States from 1935 to 1951. Shown before feature films, NOT presented stories from America and throughout the world in a unique newsreel and documentary style.

Film historian Raymond Fielding noted that “Inside Nazi Germany” was possibly the most politically controversial film in American cinema history. The sixteen-minute film gave many Americans their first inside look at the Third Reich.

The episode examined the preparation of Germany for war and expansion, and the extent of the Nazi’s influence in German everyday life. The episode also documented the Nazi’s program for “racial purification.”

“Inside Nazi Germany” was likely one of the most spurring films of the MOT series, commented Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times. The film changed America’s sentiments towards the crisis in Europe when the U.S. was reluctant to intervene in world affairs.

The de Rochemont Archive includes the papers of the film producer and his personal film collection. While the papers are in Mason Library, the films are stored in a refrigerated vault in the Media Arts Center. The de Rochemont Archive was given to Keene State by the family in 2015.

Louis de Rochemont (1889-1978) was known as the “father of the docu-drama.” He won Oscars for his film The Fighting Lady (1944) and his work on The March of Time. His feature films include the New Hampshire-based movies Lost Boundaries (1949) and the recently restored Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951).

“He shot on location in New Hampshire and Maine,” says author Howard Mansfield, “He loved New England.” Mansfield published in 2022 Chasing Eden, a book that includes a chapter on Lost Boundaries.

“Louis de Rochemont took big risks,” says Mansfield, “to make movies about subjects, like racism and unions. To make Lost Boundaries, after MGM backed out, he mortgaged his farm, cars, and film company.”

“Regarding the wooden box,” says Larry Benaquist, Professor Emeritus of Film, “the film was smuggled out of Germany in this box, likely hidden under a false bottom. Some of the footage of antisemitic posters, signs, and bench signs saying no-Jewsallowed-to-sit would not have been allowed to leave the country.”

The box now sits next to the Oscar de Rochemont won for The March of Time, waiting for you to visit.

Rodney Obien can be contacted at
robien@keene.edu